In our consulting work, we are often pinned between a world of software functionality (and limits) and client functionality requirements (which are sometimes known ahead of the project start, and sometimes bumped into a project mid-stream).
Over the years we have built a sort of “master list” of functionality, and have decided to setup a maintained page on this site to keep it available for reference. We will often go down this list in a client discussion to see how we rank their requirements. Sometimes potential clients and clients come to us with this list – and very often when they do it is specified at the level of the end user, not at a level that is helpful for building out a system.
We’d welcome your feedback on this list and its usefulness. We specifically use this list in our XRM Assessment reports and use our survey and data scan process to “guess” at the client’s prioritization sequence, typically igniting spirited discussions which ultimately lead clients to a more informed decision on systems, partners and approaches.
We especially like this post from Ian McAllister, on how to approach prioritization. It favors going higher up to themes (which could also be characterized as specific outcome goals, like donor retention,) then coming down to more granular levels of functionality within those themes.